Federal Court Rules Against North Carolina's Controversial Abortion Law

On Monday, a federal appeals court struck down a controversial North Carolina law forcing doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women with or without their consent before performing an abortion. The law was originally passed in 2011 and was blocked in court in October of that same year, as well as in January 2014. Any further appeal will now have to be taken up with the Supreme Court, which could happen in 2015.

"Today's ruling marks another major victory for women and sends a message to lawmakers across the country: It is unconstitutional for politicians to interfere in a woman's personal medical decisions about abortion," said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law infringed on doctors' first-amendment rights. "This statutory provision interferes with the physician's right to free speech beyond the extent permitted for reasonable regulation of the medical profession, while simultaneously threatening harm to the patient's psychological health, interfering with the physician's professional judgment, and compromising the doctor-patient relationship," wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the unanimous decision.

Since its inception, the law has been viewed by women's rights advocates as a deliberate attack by conservative lawmakers, aimed at limiting a woman's right to choose what happens to her own body. Wilkinson supported the argument that demanding women to see and hear about ultrasound images against their will is not in their best interest, writing: "Far from promoting the psychological health of women, this requirement risks the infliction of psychological harm on the woman who chooses not to receive this information. She must endure the embarrassing spectacle of averting her eyes and covering her ears while her physician—a person to whom she should be encouraged to listen—recites information to her."

He continued: "Transforming the physician into the mouthpiece of the state undermines the trust that is necessary for facilitating healthy doctor-patient relationships and, through them, successful treatment outcomes."

Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, told Reuters that requiring doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion would give those women "an opportunity to pause and really take into consideration what decision she's making."

Not all parts of North Carolina's abortion requirements were deemed unconstitutional, however. Women seeking an abortion in the state will still be required to undergo mandatory counseling, and then endure a state-enforced 24-hour waiting period before the abortion can be performed. The requirements appear to have no medical purpose; abortion has been proved to be a safe procedure, with a recent study showing that women who undergo abortions have fewer complications than people who get their wisdom teeth or tonsils removed. They do, however, require women to make multiple trips to an abortion clinic—an extra burden, particularly for low-income women who may not have the financial resources to take time off work, pay for the additional travel cost, and/or arrange for childcare if necessary.

"Abortion in America today is safe, and no doctor should be forced to deliver government-mandated information that has nothing to do with promoting women's health," said Richards. "Politicians are not medical experts—but politicians have written this law with the ultimate goal of restricting access to safe, legal abortion."

Twenty-three states currently require women to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound before receiving an abortion, according to recent data from the Guttmacher Institute. The Institute also reports that during counseling in five states, it's required that "women be told that personhood begins at conception." In 12 states, women seeking an abortion are also given "information on the ability of a fetus to feel pain."